[tinwheeler]

Hi all,
I'm about to have a go at making sausages for the first time and want some advice.
Do I need to take the skin off the meat before I mince it?
I have found that I have a few spare joints from my pigs and run out of the sausages that the butcher gave me so thought I would mince up some joints and have a go at DIY sausages. The joints are skin on and also on the bone.
Obviously I need to take the meat off the bone but do I need to take the skin off as well? if so, how much of it? do I want to take all the fat too or leave that on and just 'shave off' the top hard layer? - I don't want to have chewy lumps in the end product!
Thanks for advice

[Eve]

Yes, take the skin off. 

[tinwheeler]

Thanks, How much should I take off? just a couple of mm or the fat too?

[plt102]

We take the skin off and discard, then separate the fat from the meat and cube it and weigh it before mincing. That way you know how much fat by weight you are adding to the meat so your sausages wont be too fatty. Also gives you a chance to get rid of any gristle etc that you dont want to eat. Makes a more even result. Good luck.

[HappyHippy]

I don't put skin into my sausages either. Like plt I get rid of gristly or yukky bits, 70% lean minced pork to 30% fat and you're ready to add your flavours and rusk (a lot of people don't add any - but a little bit helps keep the texture soft and retain moisture. Keep everything nice and cold and don't overwork your mix or the sausages will be chewy 
HTH
Karen

[suziequeue]

Karen

When you say "don't overwork the mix" - what stage are you referring to? Or do you just mean in general not to overwork it.......

How do you tell if you've overworked it?

[HappyHippy]

Karen

When you say "don't overwork the mix" - what stage are you referring to? Or do you just mean in general not to overwork it.......

How do you tell if you've overworked it?

At the stage when you're adding the flavouring ingredients/rusk - you want it mixed enough that everything is evenly distributed but not so much that the 'fibres' of the meat start to break down (does that make sense ? I'm not sure I've explained it correctly  ) The only way to tell (that I've found so far) is to cook a sausage and check, if it's overworked it's quite tough and 'springy'.
I've started 'layering' my ingredients into the mixing bowl so that they don't need quite as much mixing in the first place, but keeping everything really cold helps too (and stops them having a crumbly texture). If you're adding water or liquid make it really cold, almost iced and keep the meat and fat in the fridge until the very last minute - I sometimes put the bowl in the freezer for 20 minutes before I start.
HTH 

[The Mobile Butcher]

Hi
In my experience I wold say 90% of the butchers remove all the rind/skin, I have found a few who leave it on, I would not recommend this as you will possibly find small hairs or tough bits in your sausage, and that's not a good thing.
So its best to remove all rind and any small glands that you can, if your pork is excessively fat then maybe a good idea to remove some of the fat too.I would only do this if your pigs were really over fat.
A good sharp knife is the best to remove the rind, angle it into the meat and hold the rind with your free hand and push down on the knife, while pulling  the rind away with the free hand. If you find you are cutting through the rind then alter your angle on the knife blade.
sounds complicated , but its not.
 
Best of luck with your sausages. and a good tip use nice cold meat and fridge cold water, don't over work your mix, and if your  are freezing some of the sausage's, I would leave over night in the fridge before I freeze them, this will help them loose a little of the water/ liquid, and I think makes for a better sausage.
 
Best wishes

[si-mate]

I had my first attempt at sausage making on Tuesday with some lamb mince and generally got on pretty well except I found it seriously hard word to push the mixture down the hole. Would that be because it wasn't cold enough?

[HappyHippy]

I had my first attempt at sausage making on Tuesday with some lamb mince and generally got on pretty well except I found it seriously hard word to push the mixture down the hole. Would that be because it wasn't cold enough?

Was that when you were feeding it into the skins ?
I found that with the little mincer/stuffer in one that it is hard work and takes forever to do it 
So I bought a stand alone stuffer for big batches Waaaaaaay easier 
HTH